Ballet is a formalized kind of performance dance, which originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France, Russia, and Britain as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with most of the audience seated on tiers or galleries on three sides of the dancing floor. It has since become a highly technical form of dance with its own vocabulary. It is primarily performed with the accompaniment of classical music and has been influential as a form of dance globally. Ballet has been taught in ballet schools around the world, which use their own cultures and societies to inform the art. Ballet dance works (ballets) are choreographed and performed by trained artists, include mime and acting, and are set to music (usually orchestral but occasionally vocal). It is a poised style of dance that incorporates the foundational techniques for many other dance forms. This genre of dance is very hard to master and requires much practice. It is best known in the form of Late Romantic Ballet or Ballet Blanc, which preoccupies itself with the female dancer to the exclusion of almost all else, focusing on pointe work, flowing, precise acrobatic movements, and often presenting the dancers in the conventional short white French tutu. Later developments include expressionist ballet, Neoclassical ballet, and elements of Modern dance.

Etymology

The word ''ballet'' comes from the French and was borrowed into English around 1630. The French word in turn has its origin in Italian ''balletto'', a diminutive of ''ballo'' (dance) which comes from Latin ''ballo'', ''ballare'', meaning "to dance", which in turn comes from the Greek "βαλλίζω" (''ballizo''), "to dance, to jump about".

History

Ballet emerged in the late fifteenth-century Renaissance court culture of Italy as a dance interpretation of fencing, and further developed in the French court from the time of Louis XIV in the 17th century. This is reflected in the largely French vocabulary of ballet. Despite the great reforms of Noverre in the eighteenth century, ballet went into decline in France after 1830, though it was continued in Denmark, Italy, and Russia. It was reintroduced to western Europe on the eve of the First World War by a Russian company: the Ballets Russes of Sergei Diaghilev, who came to be influential around the world. Diaghilev's company came to be a destination for many of the Russian trained dancers fleeing the famine and unrest that followed the Bolshevik revolution. These dancers brought many of the choreographic and stylistic innovations that had been flourishing under the czars back to their place of origin.

In the 20th century, ballet had a strong influence on broader concert dance. For example, in the United States, choreographer George Balanchine developed what is now known as neoclassical ballet. Subsequent developments now include contemporary ballet and post-structural ballet, seen in the work of William Forsythe in Germany.

Classical ballet

Classical ballet is the most methodical of the ballet styles; it adheres to traditional ballet technique. There are variations relating to area of origin, such as Russian ballet, French ballet, Danish Bournonville ballet and Italian ballet, although most ballet of the last two centuries is ultimately founded on the teachings of Blasis. The most well-known styles of ballet are the Russian Method, the Italian Method, the Danish Method, the Balanchine Method or New York City Ballet Method, and the Royal Academy of Dance and Royal Ballet School methods, derived from the Cecchetti method, created in England. The first pointe shoes were actually regular ballet slippers that were heavily darned at the tip. It would allow the girl to briefly stand on her toes to appear weightless. It was later converted to the hard box that is used today.

Classical ballet adheres to these rules:

A position called 'plie' is used in almost every exercise

Everything is turned out.

When the feet are not on the floor, they're pointed.

When the leg is not bent, it's stretched completely.

Posture, alignment, and placement are vital.

Neoclassical ballet

Neoclassical ballet is a ballet style that uses traditional ballet vocabulary but is less rigid than the classical ballet. For example, dancers often dance at more extreme tempos and perform more technical feats. Spacing in neoclassical ballet is usually more modern or complex than in classical ballet. Although organization in neoclassical ballet is more varied, the focus on structure is a defining characteristic of neoclassical ballet.

Balanchine brought modern dancers in to dance with his company, the New York City Ballet. One such dancer was Paul Taylor, who, in 1959, performed in Balanchine's ''Episodes''. Balanchine worked with modern dance choreographer Martha Graham, expanding his exposure to modern techniques and ideas. During this period, Tetley began to consciously combine ballet and modern techniques in experimentation.

Tim Scholl, author of ''From Petipa to Balanchine'', considers George Balanchine's ''Apollo'' in 1928 to be the first neoclassical ballet. ''Apollo'' represented a return to form in response to Serge Diaghilev's abstract ballets.

Contemporary ballet

Contemporary ballet is a form of dance influenced by both classical ballet and modern dance. It takes its technique and body control using abdominal strength from classical ballet, although it permits a greater range of movement that may not adhere to the strict body lines or turnout set forth by schools of ballet technique. Many of its concepts come from the ideas and innovations of 20th century modern dance, including floor work and turn-in of the legs. This style is generally danced barefoot.

George Balanchine is often considered to have been the first pioneer of contemporary ballet through the development of ''neoclassical ballet''. One dancer who danced briefly for Balanchine was Mikhail Baryshnikov, an exemplar of Kirov Ballet training. Following Baryshnikov's appointment as artistic director of American Ballet Theatre in 1980, he worked with various modern choreographers, most notably Twyla Tharp. Tharp choreographed ''Push Comes To Shove'' for ABT and Baryshnikov in 1976; in 1986 she created ''In The Upper Room'' for her own company. Both these pieces were considered innovative for their use of distinctly modern movements melded with the use of pointe shoes and classically trained dancers—for their use of "contemporary ballet".

Twyla Tharp also worked with the Joffrey Ballet company, founded in 1957 by Robert Joffrey. She choreographed ''Deuce Coupe'' for them in 1973, using pop music and a blend of modern and ballet techniques. The Joffrey Ballet continued to perform numerous contemporary pieces, many choreographed by co-founder Gerald Arpino.

Today there are many contemporary ballet companies and choreographers. These include Alonzo King and his company, Alonzo King's Lines Ballet; Complexions Contemporary Ballet, under the direction of Dwight Rhoden; Nacho Duato's Compañia Nacional de Danza; William Forsythe, who has worked extensively with the Frankfurt Ballet and today runs The Forsythe Company; and Jiří Kylián, currently the artistic director of the Nederlands Dans Theatre. Traditionally "classical" companies, such as the Kirov Ballet and the Paris Opera Ballet, also regularly perform contemporary works.

Gallery

See also

Ballet styles

* Ballet d'action

* Classical ballet

* Contemporary ballet

* Neoclassical ballet

* Romantic ballet

Ballet technique

* French ballet

* Russian Vaganova method

* Italian Cecchetti method

* English Royal Academy of Dance

Ballet company

Ballet music

Ballet tutu

Barre

Dance belt

En pointe

Glossary of ballet

Health risks of professional dancers

Orchestral enhancement

Pointe shoes

The Sergeyev Collection

Western stereotype of the male ballet dancer

References

Darius, Adam (2007). ''Arabesques Through Time.'' Harlequinade Books, Helsinki. ISBN 9519823247

External links

American Ballet Theatre: Ballet Terms Dictionary

Russian ballet today: Who's who in Russian ballet - a professional community website with discussions, videos and photo etc

Category:French loanwords Category:Greek loanwords

af:Ballet ar:باليه az:Balet bn:ব্যালে be:Балет be-x-old:Балет bs:Balet br:Barrez bg:Балет ca:Ballet cv:Балет cs:Balet cbk-zam:Ballet da:Ballet de:Ballett et:Ballett es:Ballet eo:Baleto eu:Balet fa:رقص باله fr:Ballet fy:Ballet gl:Balé gan:芭蕾 ko:발레 kk:Балет hy:Բալետ hi:बैले hr:Balet io:Baleto id:Balet ie:Ballette it:Balletto he:בלט ka:ბალეტი la:Pantomimus ballationis lv:Balets lt:Baletas hu:Balett mk:Балет ms:Balet nl:Ballet ja:バレエ no:Ballett nn:Ballett pl:Balet pt:Balé ro:Balet ru:Балет sq:Baleti si:බැලේ නැටුම් simple:Ballet sk:Balet sl:Balet sr:Балет sh:Balet fi:Baletti sv:Balett tt:Balet th:บัลเลต์ tr:Bale uk:Балет vi:Ba lê zh:芭蕾舞

Dame Monica Mason DBE (born 6 September 1941) is a ballet dancer and has been the director of The Royal Ballet, since 2002.

Early life

Monica Margaret Mason was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1941. A talented dancer, she moved to Britain at the age of 14 to join the Royal Ballet School.

Royal Ballet

At the age of 16 Mason joined the Royal Ballet as the Company's youngest member, and became a principal dancer in 1968. She worked closely with the choreographer Sir Kenneth MacMillan, who created the roles of Lescaut's Mistress in ''Manon'', Calliope Rag in ''Elite Syncopations'', Summer in ''The Four Seasons'' and the Midwife in ''Rituals'' for her.

Mason was also given the role of the Chosen Maiden in ''The Rite of Spring'' that had been originally created by Diaghilev for Lydia Sokolova in the 1920s. Her last leading role was as Nursey in ''Isadora'' by Kenneth MacMillan, in 1981, although she continued to appear in mime roles as a guest artist with the Royal Ballet for some time after that.

Administrator

Following her retirement as a principal dancer, Mason continued to work for the Royal Ballet company and in 1984 she was appointed Principal Répétiteur to the company. In 1991 she became Assistant Director of the company under Sir Anthony Dowell. Following the company's move to its new headquarters at the Royal Opera House in London's Covent Garden, Mason replaced Dowell's successor, Ross Stretton, as Director in late 2002. She recently announced her retirement and will leave The Royal Ballet in August 2012

Damehood

Mason was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2002. In the 2008 Birthday Honours she was made Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) .

References

External links

Londondance.com

Royal Ballet official site

Category:1941 births Category:National Dance Award winners Category:Administrators of The Royal Ballet Category:People educated at the Royal Ballet School Category:Ballerinas Category:British ballet dancers Category:British arts administrators Category:Dancers of The Royal Ballet Category:Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Category:Living people Category:People from London Category:People from Johannesburg Category:South African ballet dancers

Coordinates	52°02′″N47°47′″N
name	Misty Copeland
birth name	Misty Copeland
birth date	1982
birth place	Kansas City, Missouri,United States
disappeared date
death date
resting place coordinates
residence	New York, New York,United States
nationality	American
ethnicity	African American
citizenship	United States
education	San Pedro High School
occupation	Dancer
employer	American Ballet Theatre
home town	Los Angeles, California,United States
title	Soloist
website

Misty Copeland (born 1982) is an American ballerina, described by many accounts as the first African American female soloist for the American Ballet Theatre (ABT), one of the three leading classical ballet companies in the United States (along with New York City Ballet and San Francisco Ballet). However, Anne Benna Sims and Nora Kimball, who were with the ABT in the early and mid 1980s respectively, preceded her. In this role as the third African-American ballerina and first in two decades with ABT, she has endured the cultural pressure associated with it.

Copeland is considered a prodigy who rose to stardom despite not starting ballet until the age of 13. By age 15, Copeland's mother and ballet teachers, who were serving as her custodial guardians, fought a custody battle over her. Meanwhile, Copeland, who was already an award-winning dancer, was fielding professional offers. The 1998 legal proceedings involved filings for emancipation by Copeland and restraining orders by her mother. Both sides dropped legal proceedings, and Copeland moved home to begin studying under a new teacher who was a former ABT member.

In 1998, Copeland won the Los Angeles Music Center Spotlight Award as the best dancer in Southern California. After two summer workshops with the ABT, she became a member of the Studio Company in 2000, a member of the corps de ballet in 2001, and a soloist in 2007. Stylistically, she is considered a classical ballerina and was regarded as such during her early years in the ABT. As a soloist since the autumn of 2007, she has been described as having matured into a more contemporary and sophisticated dancer.

Early life

Copeland was born in Kansas City, Missouri and raised in the San Pedro community of Los Angeles, California. She is of African, German and Italian descent. Copeland is the youngest of Sylvia DelaCerna's four children from her first marriage. Her siblings from that marriage are Erica Copeland, Douglas Copeland Jr., and Christopher Ryan Copeland. She also has two younger half-siblings, Lindsey Monique Brown (a track star at Chico State University) and Cameron DelaCerna, one each from her mother's second and third marriage. Sylvia DelaCerna, a former Kansas City Chiefs cheerleader, had studied dance.

Copeland never studied ballet or gymnastics formally until her teenage years. However, she did enjoy choreographing flips and dance moves to Mariah Carey songs in her youth. Copeland's natural presence and skill came to the attention of her drill team coach, Liz Cantine, at Dana Middle School in San Pedro. She was first introduced to ballet in classes at her local Boys & Girls Club. DelaCerna allowed Copeland to go to the club after school until the workday ended and Cynthia Bradley, a former working dancer with companies in San Diego, Virginia and Kentucky, taught a free ballet class there once a week. Bradley invited Copeland to attend classes at the small local ballet school, San Pedro Dance Center. However, Copeland initially declined the offer because her mother did not have a car, and her oldest sister Erica was working two jobs. Copeland began her ballet studies at the age of 13 at the San Pedro Dance Center when Cynthia Bradley began picking her up from school. Soon after she and her mother moved to a motel in Gardena, California they signed a management contract as well as a life-story contract, and Copeland moved in with Bradley. She spent the weekdays with the Bradleys near the coast and the weekends at home with her mother, a two-hour bus ride away. By the age of fourteen, Copeland was the winner of a national ballet contest and won her first solo role.

The Bradleys introduced Copeland to books and videos about ballet. When she got to see Paloma Herrera perform at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Copeland began to idolize her as much as she did Mariah Carey. After three months of study Copeland was en pointe. The media first noticed Copeland when she drew 2,000 patrons per show as she performed as Clara in the ''The Nutcracker'' after only eight months of study. A larger role in ''Don Quixote'' and a featured role in ''The Chocolate Nutcracker'', an African American version of the tale that was narrated by Debbie Allen, soon followed.

When she was fifteen years old, Copeland won first place in the Los Angeles Music Center Spotlight Awards and subsequently began her studies with Diane Lauridsen of Torrance's South Bay Ballet at the Lauridsen Ballet Center. The competition was held at the Chandler Pavilion on March 24, 1998, and Copeland said it was the first time she ever battled nervousness. The winners received scholarships between $500 and $2500. Copeland's victory in the 10th annual contest among gifted high school students in Southern California secured her recognition by the ''Los Angeles Times'' as the best young dancer in the Greater Los Angeles Area.

Copeland studied at the San Francisco Ballet School after winning the Spotlight award. While training with Bradley she selected the workshop with the San Francisco Ballet over offers from the Joffrey Ballet, Dance Theater of Harlem and three other companies. As a student, Copeland had a 3.8/4.0 GPA through her junior year of high school.

Custody case

Copeland lived and trained with Cynthia and Patrick Bradley for nearly three years, ending in 1998. During that time she pursued independent study for tenth grade. After Copeland returned from her summer 1998 San Francisco Ballet experience, her mother informed her that she would be staying with her and not resuming her study with the Bradleys. Copeland was distraught with fear that she would not be able to dance. She had heard the term emancipation while in San Francisco; the procedure was common among young performers. The Bradleys introduced Copeland to Steven Bartell, a lawyer who explained the emancipation petition process. Copeland says she understood the process as a way to make everything better. The Bradleys encouraged her to be absent when the emancipation petition was delivered to her mother. Copeland ran away from home for three days and stayed with a friend.

After her mother reported Copeland missing, she was told about the emancipation petition. Three days after running away, Copeland was taken to the police station by Bartell, who filed emancipation papers. Copeland's mother subsequently applied for a restraining order, which included the Bradleys' five-year old son who had been Copeland's roommate. The order was partly intended to preclude contact between the Bradleys and Copeland, but it did not have proper legal basis, since there had been no stalking and no harassment.

In late 1998, a custody controversy occurred involving Copeland. The case was highly publicized in the press (especially ''Los Angeles Times'' and ''Extra''), starting in August and September 1998. Parts of the press coverage spilled over into op-ed articles. In the case, which was heard in Torrance in the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, DelaCerna claimed that the Bradleys had brainwashed Copeland into filing suit for emancipation from her mother, and DelaCerna, who was represented by Gloria Allred, filed a series of restraining orders against Bartell, the lawyer who filed the emancipation charges on behalf of her daughter. Allred claimed that the Bradleys had turned Copeland against her mother by belittling DelaCerna's intelligence. The Bradleys were not intimidated by the suits and said they were willing to enforce the management contract, which gave them authority and rights to twenty percent of Copeland's earnings until she became eighteen, via the legal system.

After DelaCerna stated that she would always make sure Copeland could dance, the emancipation papers and restraining orders were dropped. Even though she had dropped the temporary restraining order request, DelaCerna wanted the Bradleys out of her daughter's life. Later in 1998, Copeland, who claimed she did not even understand the term emancipation, withdrew the request after informing the judge that such charges no longer represented her wishes. Eventually, Copeland re-enrolled at San Pedro High School on pace to be a part of her original class of 2000 and began ballet study with Lauridsen Ballet Centre, although it was now restricted to afternoons in deference to her schooling. Afterward, all parties appeared on Leeza Gibbons' ''Leeza'' show. In 2000, DelaCerna stated that Copeland's earnings from ballet were set aside in a savings account and only used as needed.

American Ballet Theatre

As of 2008, Copeland has been the only African-American woman in the dance company for her entire American Ballet Theatre career, nor is there a male African-American since the departure of Danny Tidwell in 2005. In an international ballet community with a lack of diversity, she is a rare African-American ballerina, and although she has been shielded from several issues, she endures the difficulties of cultural isolation as the second African-American ABT soloist ballerina. Since she is often credited as the first African-American ABT soloist ballerina in the press, some describe her as the Jackie Robinson of classical ballet. Copeland also feels that since the ballerina is the focus of the ballet, her role as a trail-blazing performer and role model has extra significance. She is included in the 2004 picture book by former ABT ballerina Rosalie O'Connor that is entitled ''Getting Closer: A Dancers Perspective'' (ISBN 0-8130-2768-3). Copeland's performances with American Ballet Theatre are sponsored by Susan Fales-Hill.

Early ABT career

Copeland auditioned for several dance programs in 1999, and each made her an offer to enroll in its summer program. Copeland performed with the ABT as part of its 1999 and 2000 Summer Intensive programs. During the summer of 1999, the topic of whether Copeland would stay if invited came up, and she responded affirmatively, although her mother insisted finishing high school was important. During that summer, she was told that she would likely be invited to stay after she graduated in 2000 and by the end of the summer she was asked to skip her senior year and join the studio company. Copeland returned to California for her senior year, even though the ABT arranged to pay for her performances, housing accommodations and academic arrangements.

She studied at the Summer Intensive Program on full scholarship for both summers and was declared ABT’s National Coca-Cola Scholar in 2000. In the 2000 Summer Intensive Program, she danced the role of Kitri in ''Don Quixote''. Of the 150 dancers in the 2000 Summer Intensive Program, she was one of six selected to join the junior dance troupe. She joined the ABT Studio Company in September 2000, and became a member of its Corps de ballet in 2001. As part of the Studio Company, which is the ABT's second company, she performed a duet in Tchaikovsky's ''Sleeping Beauty''.

Corps de ballet

Early career reviews mentioned her as more radiant than higher ranking dancers. As a corps dancer she had the opportunity to dance alongside her longtime idol Paloma Herrera. Starting in 2003, she began to be favorably reviewed for her roles as a member of the corps in ''La Bayadère'' and William Forsythe's ''workwithinwork''. Recognition continued in 2004 for roles in ballets such as ''Raymonda'' and ''workwithinwork'', and the 2004 season is regarded as her breakthrough season. In 2005, her most notable performance was in George Balanchine's ''Tarantella''. In 2006, she received a notable mention for her role in ''Cinderella'', and she was acknowledged for her meticulous classical performance style in ''Giselle''. That year, she also returned to Southern California to perform at Orange County Performing Arts Center. Copeland's "old-style" performance continued to earn her praise until her promotion to soloist in 2007.

Soloist

Copeland was appointed soloist in August 2007, which was announced in July 2007. Standing at , she is one of the youngest ABT soloists, and she has been a standout among her peers. In the early fall 2007 New York City Center season, in which avant-garde ballets works were performed, she presented a Balanchine ''Ballo Della Regina'' role. Her solo in this work was highly regarded although, as one of Balanchine's later works, ''Ballo Della Regina'' is not regarded as one of his best productions. Her performances of Twyla Tharp works in the same City Center season were recognized, and she was described as more sophisticated and contemporary as a soloist than she had been as a corps ballerina. As a corps member she had been recognized for prior performances of Tharp's work. Her summer 2008 Metropolitan Opera House season performances in ''Don Quixote'' and ''Sleeping Beauty'' were well-received.

In 2008, Copeland won the Leonore Annenberg Fellowship in the Arts, which funds study with master teachers and trainers outside of the American Ballet Theatre. The two-year fellowships are in recognition of "young artists of extraordinary talent with the goal of providing them with additional resources in order to fully realise their potential". During the 2008–09 season, she received publicity for roles in Twyla Tharp's ''Baker's Dozen'' and Paul Taylor's ''Company B''.

In March 2009, Copeland spent two days in Los Angeles filming a music video with Prince, for the first single from his 2009 studio album ''Lotusflower'', which was a cover of the "Crimson and Clover". Prince caught her by surprise with a next-day invitation to participate in unchoreographed movements. She described his instructions as "Be you, feel the music, just move" and upon request for instruction "Keep doing what you’re doing". During the summer, her Annenberg Fellowship resulted in training for her performance in Balanchine's ''Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux'' adaptation of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's ''Swan Lake'' "Pas de Deux". She also began taking acting lessons. That fall, she performed in the ABT's first trip to Beijing November 12 –15. The six-performance engagement was the first by an American ballet company at the new National Center for the Performing Arts.

In October 2010, she performed at the Guggenheim Museum to David Lang's music. During the New York City and New Jersey portions of Prince's Welcome 2 America tour, Copeland took a few nights off from her 2010 role in ''The Nutcracker'' at Brooklyn Academy of Music and performed a pas de deux en pointe to "The Beautiful Ones" as the opening number at the Izod Center and Madison Square Garden. Prince had previously invited her onstage at a concert in Nice, France. Copeland was also featured in T-Mobile's ads for the BlackBerry in 2010. In February 2011, in honor of Black History Month, Copeland was selected by ''Essence'' as one of its 37 Boundary-breaking black women in entertainment. That same month, she toured with Company B, which performed at Sadler's Wells Theatre in London. On April 13 2011, she performed alongside Prince on the ''Lopez Tonight'' show, dancing to the song "The Beautiful Ones." Her Summer 2011 ABT performances were part of a new Alexei Ratmansky ballet as well as a reprisal of ''Giselle'' pas de deux. In the Ratmansky piece, Copeland earned praise for her May and June Metropolitan Opera House performances: "Misty Copeland was a luminous, teasingly sensual milkmaid. I’ll never look at her the same way again," She performed Ratmansky to a Metropolitan Opera audience that included ''Black Swan'' star Natalie Portman. She reprised the role in July at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles with a performance described as "sly". As a flower girl, she was described as glittering in ''Don Quixote''. In August, she performed at the Vail International Dance Festival in the Gerald Ford Amphitheater in Vail, Colorado.

While aspiring to be a principal dancer, Copeland has numerous goals as a dancer, in terms of leading roles. She aspires to perform lead roles in ''Giselle'', Nikiya and Gamzatti in ''La Bayadère'', Juliet in Romeo and Juliet as well as Odette/Odile in ''Swan Lake''.

References

External links

Copeland archive at ''Los Angeles Times''

Copeland at American Ballet Theatre

Copeland's commercial for Blackberry Bold

"Crimson and Clover" video

The Loop 21: Interview with Misty Copeland

1997 Copeland video

Category:1982 births Category:Living people Category:People from Kansas City, Missouri Category:American ballet dancers Category:Ballerinas Category:People from Los Angeles, California Category:American Ballet Theatre soloists